Dispensing container



July 18', 1944. E. B. DUELL DISPENSING CONTAINER Filed June 4, 1943 Patented July 18, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPENSING CONTAINER Edith B. Duell, Sharpsburg, Pa.

Application June 4, 1943, Serial No. 489,681 4 Claims. (01. 206-42) designed to permit of manipulation, or sliding 'of the cover, relative to the container in such a way that the containers may be held in one hand of a user and one or more tablets successively exposed and so that one or more of the tablets as they are exposed may be put directly into the users mouth.

Containers constructed in accordance with the underlying basic principles disclosed in said patents have recently gone into wide-spread public use and have been adopted as a regular and necessary article to be included in the first air kits of the armed forces of the United States and especially for men who are assigned to combat duty. In such cases the containers are filled with one of the suitable sulfa drugs with proper instructions to enable the possessor to self-administer the required dosage in case he should be wounded and is not able to secure prompt first aid treatment. In many cases wounds are of such a nature that the wounded person may not have the use of both hands and it is, therefore, imperative that the container supplied be capable of ready and simple manipulation without requiring the use of both hands to open the container and to selfadminister the contents thereof.

Containers of the type disclosed in the said two patents were primarily designed to be constructed of sheet metal, or plastic material, but as the supply of such material has become very limited, it became highly important that a type of container be devised having the desirable properties of the said patented containers and which while adapted to be made of any suitable material is capable of being constructed of materials other than sheet metal or plastics.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a new and improved construction of a dispensing container for tablets, or the like, capable of holding a predetermined quantity of tablets and which may be substantially hermetically sealed within the container and to so construct the container that it may be readily manipulated when held in one hand of a user so as to expose one or more of the tablets which can then be placed in the user's mouth directly from the container by merely lifting it to the mouth and tilting it so that the tablets can readily be dropped upon the tongue or into the users mouth.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a container with suitable barrier means so constructed and arranged so that a predetermined small amount of the entire contents of the container may be segregated and exposed by a simple sliding movement of the box and when so exposed be retained loosely in the exposed portion in such condition as to permit them to be dropped out of the container by a mere tilting of the latter.

A further object is to provide a new and improved construction for a container of the type set forth capable of being constructed at a low cost by the use of readily available materials and without necessitating the use of the comparatively scarce materials such as sheet metal or plastics.

The above and other objects of the invention will appear more fully from the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and showing parts of the container in partially opened condition;

Fig. 2 is a transverse cross-section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of the container.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the preferred form of the inner or slide member or tray portion of the container removed from the outer cover portion and,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 of an alternative or modified form of the inner slide member.

As shown in the drawings the numeral ill indicates a receptacle or tray, which, as shown, is preferably constructed of a plurality of laminated sheets ll of any suitable material, such for example as cardboard, compressed papier-mach, or other suitable cheap and readily obtainable material. Each of the sheets II is provided with a plurality of holes I2 that are preferably punched out of the sheets by the same punching or stamping operation that forms the outer contour or periphery of each sheet. In the specific constructional example illustrated, I have shown each of the sheets I I as provided with two longitudinal rows of holes I2, each row preferably consisting of four holes. It will of course be understood that any desired number of rows may be provided in each sheet and any desired number of holes in each row.

After the sheets have been stamped or pressed to the desired configuration and with the holes l2 formed therein, the sheets are assembled in superimposed relationship and are secured together by the use of any suitable adhesive and pressed to form the tray in into a member of the desired thickness in accordance with the thickness of the tablets which it is designed to contain. Simultaneously with the operation of securing the sheets 2 together to form the laminated tray structure, there is, also secured to one face thereof a substantially rigid bottom piece I! upon which tablets, such as indicated at H, are

adapted to rest and be retained within the holes- I! of the tray 1.. The tray III is adapted to be slidably received within a cover Iii preferably constructed of thick paper or light cardboard of sufllcient' body to retain its desired shape after it has been-fabricated, the cover I! preferably being formed of a fiat sheet ofmaterial stamped with fold lines to form a top wall "-0, bottom wall 15-2) and side walls and li-d, the latter preferably being formed'of two thicknesses-of material that are arranged in overlapping relationship when the cover has been folded to shape and which are secured together by any suitable adhesive. At each end thereof the cover is also preferably provided with end flaps lB-e adapted to fold about the ends of the tray l0 when the latter is fully retracted and encased by the cover and so as to provide a substantially air tight seal forthe contents of the container- 'I'hebottom wall |5 b of the cover is provided with a longitudinally extending slot l8 which serves to expose the bottom of the tray ill to understood that the engagement between the membersv IO and Ilwhile preventing accidental movement. yield sufficiently to permit such relative sliding movement of the members to occur. As soon as sufficient sliding movement has been imparted to the members to expose the first tablet, the members l8, I! are again engaged to temporarily lock the parts in position and to indicate to the user that the container has been opened sufllciently to expose a tablet which can then be readily placed in the user's mouth by merely raising the container to the mouth and simultaneously tilting it. If additional dosage is required, the parts may be again'slid until the next indentation I8 in the tray engages with one of the depressions IS, the showing in Fig. 1 illustrating the condition Just described and wherein two tablets have been ejected from the end holes I2, a third tablet I 4 in the next hole has been fully exposed for dispensing while a fourth tablet is only partially exposed and cannot be dispensed until the tray is slid to a further opened position.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the provision of the temporary interlocking devices l8, l9 enable the user of the container to ascertain readily when the parts have been receptacle, l2 formed in the tray l0 and the top 15-11 of the cover i5 is preferably provided with a pair of punched-in depressions or indentations which form small projections on the under face of the top ii-a adapted to engage in the cooperating depression ll formed in the tray.

In the preferred form of tray shown in Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings the holes I! of each longitudinal row are arranged in staggered relation transversely of the tray andso that transversely extending barrier or web 20 that divides each,

hole I2 in each longitudinal row from its adjacent hole I2 is located substantially in alignment with thetransverse center line'or diameter of a hole in the other longitudinal row so that, as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 1 of the drawings, as the tray is slid longitudinally of the I cover when any one hole in one longitudinal row is completely uncovered an adjacent holein the other will be at least half covered by the cover member IS. AS a result of this staggered relation of the holes the tablets may be dispensed one at a time.

. When the tray has been filled withaplurality of tablets l4 so that each of the holes I! of the tray contain a tablet and the tray is slid into the cover l5 so as to be completely encased therein, two of the indentations l8 in the top of the tray will be engaged by the projections formed. on the under 7 surface of the top l5-a by the pressed-in portions l9 thereof. The interlocking indentations l8 and I9 thus serve, together with the flaps li-e, to prevent accidental opening of the container. When, however, it is desired to expose the contents of the tray, the user merely places the tip of a finger in the slot I6 to contact with the roughened surface I1 and produces relative sliding movement between the tray and cover, it being moved sufficiently to expose each'one of the holes "successively even though the device is manipulated in total darkness or the sight of the user may be impaired.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 5 the tray I'll-a has the holes "-11 instead of being staggered arranged in transverse alignment so that two tablets are exposed for dispensing simultaneously, this form of construction being preferred for use where the required dosage consists of two tablets. As there are but three partially open dispensing positions for the tray of this type obviously it will be necessary to provide but three of the depressions 8-41.

As will be seen from the foregoing description the rib, or wall 20, left between any two adjacent holes I2 in each longitudinal row thereof forms a barrier means which extends transversely of the container while the similar rib 2| between two adjacent holes considered transversely also forms a barrier means both of which barrier means cooperate when the cover is in opened position to prevent material from passing from the uncovered portion of the container to the covered portion thereof, or vice versa. The roughened friction grip I! provided on the bottom of th container is preferably located immediately below the longitudinally extending rib or barrier 2| and the ends of the roughened strip terminate approximately midway below each of the endmost pair of holes I! while the longitudinal slot i6 provided in the bottom of the cover is substantially coextensive both in width and length with the roughened strip and as a result. when the container is held between the tips of a thumb and finger of a persons hand and the necessary pressure is exerted, the central longitudinal rib 2i serves as a backing to prevent crushing of the relatively thin cover, therefore the receptacle or tray can be slid readily to expose the various 1 compartments without danger of crushing either the cover or the tablets contained in the tray.

The plurality of interlocking devices as shown,

provides, as will be readily understood, a set of locking positions for each successive position of the tray l0 assumed by it in exposing each successive hole as in Fig. 1 or each successive transverse row of, holes as in Fig. 5. Although the roughened surface I! and slot l6 are long enough to permit the dispensing of the full contents of the receptacle by sliding movement in one direction, it will ordinarily be found more desirable to dispense the contents of one-half of the holes l2 by moving the receptacle in one direction and then to retract the receptacle into the cover, turn the device endwise and then expose the remaining one-half of the contents by movement of the two parts endwise in the opposite direction.

While I have shown and described the use of a strip of sandpaper, or other roughened material that would provide a non-slipping g p for the user's fingertip, it will of course be understood that instead of securing a separate strip of material upon the bottom l3 of the tray, that part of the surface l3 exposed through the slot 16 could be corrugated or roughened in any suitable way so as to provide the desired friction gripping qualities.

The present application as to certain common subject matter is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 484,621 filed April 26, 1943, for Dispensing containers.

It will likewise be understood that although I have shown and described a satisfactory constructional example, many variations, changes and modifications in the specific constructional example disclosed may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A dispensing container comprising a cover and a shallow tray-like oblong shaped receptacle slidably mounted relatively to said cover, said receptacle being provided with longitudinally extending rows of article receiving pockets with a longitudinally extending rib or barrier extending between each of said rows and with the pockets of one row arranged in staggered relationship with the pockets of an adjacent row, a transverse barrier extending between and separating each adjacent pair of pockets in each row, andlying substantially in alignment with the transverse central line of a pocket in an adjacent longitudinally extending row whereby as said receptacle is slid relatively to said cover only one of said pockets in one longitudinal row will be completely exposed at a time while the adjacent pocket in the adjacent row will be partially covered, said longitudinally extending barrier and said cover being provided each with a plurality of cooperating locking devices arranged in longitudinally spaced relationship in accordance with the number and spacing of said compartments whereby as said receptacle is slid longitudinally of said cover to successively expose the compartments thereof, said locking devices will be brought into successive locked position each ofwhich corresponds to the uncovering of its coinciding compartment.

2. A dispensing container comprising a cover and a shallow tray-like oblong shaped receptacle slidably mountedrelatively to said cover, said receptacle being provided with longitudinally extending rows of article receiving pockets with a longitudinallyextending rib or barrier extending between each of said row and with the pockets 7 of one row arranged in staggered relationship with the pockets of an adjacent row, a transverse barrier. extending. betweenand separating each nally extending row whereby as said receptacle is slid relatively to said cover only one of said pockets in one longitudinal row will be completely exposed at a time while the adjacent pocket in the adjacent row will be partially covered, said receptacle being provided with a rigid bottom covering the bottom of said pockets to support articles placed within said pockets said bottom being provided with a frictional gripping surface locat ed below said longitudinal barrier and said longi- I tudinally extending barrier and said cover being provided each with a plurality of cooperating locking devices arranged in longitudinally spaced relationship in accordance with the number and spacing of said compartments whereby as said receptacle is slid longitudinally of said cover to successively expose the compartments thereof, said locking devices will be brought into successive locked position each of which corresponds to the uncovering of its coinciding compartment.

3. A dispensing container comprising a cover and a shallow oblong shaped tray-like receptacle mounted in said cover for slidable movement, said receptacle being provided longitudinally extending rows of article receiving pockets arranged in staggered relation transversely of said receptacle so that as said receptacle is slid longitudinally relatively to said cover only one of said pockets will be completely uncovered at a time, said receptacle being provided with means to facilitate the sliding movement thereof relative to said cover, and said longitudinally extending barrier and said cover being provided each with a plurality of cooperating locking devices arranged in longitudinally spaced relationship in accordance with the number and spacing of said compartment whereby as said receptacle is slid longitudinally of said cover to successively expose the compartments thereof; said locking devices will b brought into successive locked position each of which corresponds to the uncovering of its coinciding compartment.

4. A dispensing container comprising a cover and a shallow tray-like oblong shaped receptacle slidably mounted relatively to said cover, said receptacle being provided with longitudinally extending rows of article receiving pockets with a longitudinally extending rib or barrier extending between each of said rows, a transverse barrier extending between and separating each adjacent pair of pockets in each row and a plurality of cooperating locking devices provided on the upper face of said longitudinal barrier and the inner face of said cover arranged in longitudinally spaced relationship along said barrier corresponding to the longitudinal spacing of said pockets, said interlocking devices consisting of a shallow recess or indentation and a corresponding projection for resiliently engaging within said recess and adapted to check the opening movement of said cover when one end of said cover is brought into alignment with one-of said transverse barrier as said cover is moved to successively uncover said pockets, said cover being constructed of relatively thin material so that upon application of additional force to produce relative longitudinal sliding movement between said cover and receptacle th locking means on said cover will be sprung out of engagement with the cooperating locking devices on said receptacle to permit further opening movement of said cover.

norm a. mum. 

